5 Critical Mistakes When Performing an Office 365 Data Backup Setup
An Office 365 backup plan is the best way to ensure business continuity by protecting critical data. But to protect critical data, companies have to do it themselves. Microsoft Office provides companies with greater productivity and collaboration capabilities with Office 365. However, that doesn’t mean your files are secure.
It’s crucial to have an Office 365 data backup plan to prevent critical data loss. When setting up a backup solution, it’s essential to avoid mistakes that would spell the end of business data should something go wrong. That would, indeed, negate the purpose of any Microsoft Office 365 data backup plan. Here are the 5 mistakes to avoid when performing a data backup setup to ensure business continuity.
Backing Up Only Some Services
Office 365 is a big bundle of apps and collaborative tools businesses use to streamline operations. Microsoft designs some tools for productivity while others for security and compliance.
Thinking you only need to backup data from certain services is a big Office 365 data backup mistake. For example, your backup plan might include data backup for OneDrive files. But considering that employees use dozens of apps from Office 365, what happens to your Exchange Online data in the case of accidental deletion?
Although a common mistake, failing to backup office 365 data from all services is one of the most reckless mistakes.
Backing Up Data Locally
While it’s convenient to keep data stored locally, it is another mistake to avoid when setting up a backup plan. A local storage system, such as a server or external drives, was once the ideal backup solution. But what happens if your system gets corrupted? What if something happens to the server or external drives?
Backing up to a previous point will be impossible in these cases. So where should you backup data? To perform an effective data backup setup, you should follow the 3–2–1 rule. This rule tells companies to keep three copies of backups on two different storages, with additional offsite storage.
With the 3–2–1 rule, you can backup data locally but will have at least one cloud backup. In the unlikely case that both storages get compromised, you will still have an additional offsite copy. That way, you ensure data integrity and business continuity.
The modern-day backup setup must always consider unforeseeable issues such as the cloud provider experiencing problems or internal issues.
Relying On Microsoft As A Backup Solution
Let’s make one thing clear Microsoft Office 365 does not backup your data. While it can keep files in cloud storage and SharePoint Online, you must understand that it isn’t an Office 365 data backup solution.
You hold a responsibility to your employees to provide them with a reliable backup solution that prevents external and human error factors. The best way to protect and prevent data loss is by using a third party backup solution.
With a third party backup solution, your company is automatically protected from human errors, such as accidental deletion. Not only that, but these solutions also protect from external threats such as disasters.
While Microsoft does enable you to restore deleted files, the retention period varies between 14 and 90 days, depending on the Office 365 version. In short, this isn’t a reliable backup policy to have. To properly protect data with unlimited retention, use a specialized third party backup solution in Office 365 data backup.
Having No Encryption On Business Critical Data
Next on the list of Office 365 backup mistakes to avoid is not securing critical data. While it’s natural to assume that backups protect against data loss, encryption is an even more crucial practice for data protection.
There are two ways to encrypt files. Those are on the network and in storage. On-network encryption encrypts files from your mailbox. What this means is every employee gets an encryption key to decrypt emails. Without an encryption key, a malicious actor cannot access emails.
In-storage encryption encrypts files in storage. With in-storage encryption, your backup data is kept secure against malicious users who’ve penetrated your cybersecurity.
A backup vendor will offer both types of backup Office 365 email encryption. In addition to being able to restore files, backup vendors will offer the tools to decrypt production data whenever you need to recover data.
Not Testing the Recovery Process
Keeping backups of Exchange Online data or any other Office 365 service is clever. However, companies need to test the recovery process to ensure business continuity. Testing restored data is an overlooked cybersecurity practice. To successfully backup data is one thing, but being able to recover it is another.
With multiple recovery processes available to companies, choosing not to test the process is yet another entry in the Office 365 backup mistakes to avoid making. Backup solutions will offer multiple recovery methods for single files and full data backups.
Do the right thing and test the methods before implementing an Office 365 data backup setup.
FAQ
- Does Office 365 backup your data?
Microsoft Office 365 does not backup your data. The responsibility to protect employee and customer data falls on the shoulder of companies.
- How long do Office 365 apps keep backups of data?
Different Office 365 apps have different retention policies. SharePoint Online keeps data for 90 days, while Exchange Online keeps it between 14 and 30 days. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams has a retention policy of seven years.
- Do I need Office 365 data backup plan?
Every company that uses Microsoft Office 365 must have a data backup plan. Without an Office 365 data backup plan, companies risk losing critical data. With a backup vendor for Office 365, companies have access to backup tools that prevent user error and external threats.
